Dec. 6, 2012

Written by

Dave Miller

Blackstone Brewing Company

Beer is made from four basic ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast. Leave one out and you don’t have beer.

Beer, at least the modern-day variety, would not be beer without hops.

Hops are the cone-shaped flower of the hop plant and are harvested in the fall. Then they are dried. Most are ground and then pelletized. While some brewers use whole-leaf dried hops, most use the pellets.

Oxygen is destructive to hops, so by tightly packing the hops into pellets, all but the very exterior of the pellet is protected from oxygen, yielding a more consistent product throughout the year.

This year, Blackstone took advantage of a recent program by our hops merchant to obtain fresh hops. The hops were picked, boxed and shipped overnight to us in Nashville. Only 24 hours after the hops were on the vine, we were adding them to a batch of India Pale Ale at our brewpub on West End Avenue. Beers brewed with fresh hops are called “wet hopped.”

Hops are used in beer for two purposes: first, for bitterness and flavor, and second, for aroma.

Hops that are added to the kettle early in the boil are called, unsurprisingly, “kettle hops,” and primarily contribute bitterness. Contrary to some national advertising, beer that is not bitter is not beer. The sweetness of malt needs to be balanced by some degree of bitterness. The bitterness can be mild, like a Kölsch, or aggressive, like an American IPA.

Hops that are added late in the boil, or after the boil, primarily contribute flavor and aroma. If added late in the boil, they are called “finish hops.” Many brewers, especially American Craft Brewers, add hops to beer after fermentation in a process called “dry hopping.” Dry hops are an important contributor to the pungency of American Pale Ales and IPAs.

The Pacific Northwest has the ideal climate for growing hops. The Willamette Valley in Oregon and the Yakima Valley in Washington together grow more than 90 percent of the American crop. About 30 varieties are harvested.

To put it simply, any hop variety will make a beer bitter, but each will create a unique flavor and aroma profile. Flavor and aroma descriptors include floral, citrus, grapefruit, lemon, spicy, earthy, pine and many more. These flavors and aromas can be mild to very intense depending on the quantities and varieties used. What brewers call the “hop bill” is a key part of each beer’s recipe.

Nashvillian Dave Miller is nationally known for brewing award-winning craft beers. He has more than 30 years of experience and is a recognized author on the art of brewing, including recently published “Brew Like a Pro.” Follow Blackstone Brewpub on Twitter at @BlackstoneBrew and Facebook at www.facebook.com/blackstonebrewpub.